MONTREAL, Feb. 5, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ropack is a proud sponsor of Caroline Calvé. A formidable competitor, she is the first Canadian to win the women's parallel giant slalom event at the World Cup in Italy, December 2011. Caroline capped off her season with the national championship. An accomplished athlete, she has been a member of the Canadian alpine snowboard team for the past seven years.

Caroline's athletic career is anything but typical. Her first love was skiing, and she came to snowboarding at the ripe old age of 22. She realized her dream of competing at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics at the age of 31.

Caroline is a firm believer in the power of determination. She's convinced you can do anything if you put your heart and mind into it. A look at her impressive career confirms there's truth in what she says.

For the 2012-2013 season, Caroline worked hard on her psychological technique in order to compete successfully against the consistency of the Europeans. It worked. She was ranked twelfth in the world and has now climbed to third place. Born in Aylmer (Québec), Caroline started her 2013-2014 season by winning the gold medal in parallel slalom at the alpine snowboard World Cup event in Cerezza, Italy. In Germany, at her last World Cup before Sochi, she finished fourth in giant parallel slalom.

Her ultimate goal is to step onto the podium at the Sochi Olympics. At age 35 this will be her swan song, after leading a double life on snow-covered slopes all over the world.